Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1887-02-12
CURiOStTIES OF ICE.


Some Peculiar Formations Recorded st
various Times nnd Dttfrreut Places.
Some years ago, a neighbor brought
to the writer's study "a cake of ice
which he had cut from a water pail.
is top was like all such pieces Of ice.
out il had a horn OF ice growing from
t, and turning it over. the under sid,
howed that the horn was hollow, anc
vas filled with water when the cakt
iormed. 1t was brought as O freak OF
nature" but a careful examination
,howed how the horn was formed. The
rail of water stood IN a chair near a
stove. while the horn pointed directly
owards q small hole in the wall oppo-
lite. A current of air had swept across
he pail and SO weakened the ice al
hat point, and in expanding it had
burst at its weakest point.
Ice is a crystal, or better. q great
mass Of crystals. The little bits Of ice
ROW together in one definite form,
hat of the six-pointcd star. A com
plete crystal is a beautiful star. But
most crystals are very incomplete, be.
lng broken up, or else several frozen
ogether into a single mass, The form
# these crystals can be readily seen by
'ooking at a pane Of glass on a frosty
Morning, or by catching a few large
lakes upon q fur collar.
Now, snow crystals are not simply
masses of frozen water they are much
less solid. They arc formed when va
Dor condenses in the upper regions of
air, much as dew II formed upon the
'arth's surface, and they are frozen Iii
rectly from the vnpor. Many reasons
END to show that all the light, feecy
clouds. seen AT great heights, consist
Of these snow masses still floating in
he mir. So if any cold object is placed
)efore the vspor, n mass of snow forms
lpon it. A board before an engines
'scape pipe On n cold DAY soon becomes
DATED with snow or frost. and the LAYER
grows as long ae il continues cold. The
'Ce often forms long spikes, ali pointing
'Owards the escaping steam and grow
ny towards it. Such masses of ice
Ormcd upon posts and stones on top
f Mount Washington, in New Hamp-
shire, some years since, four feet long.
\ strong northwest wind was blowing
It the time, and the Gir was remark
tbly damp. Soon after il commenced,
very object became coated with ice,
nd on all the more prominent points
t continued to grow for two days.
The beautiful coatings Of ice which
cover trees and bushes in the winter
IRE formed in nearly the same way.
They come when the bushes and trees
ire cold. while the air is q little warm
+ and full If moisture. Then the
ranches and twigs quickly coat, the
rOst often accommodating until the tree
'arries q load Of tons. Thousands Of
crest and ornamental trees were
roken last spring, in the Eastern
'tates, by such a load OF ice. Though
allied an ice storm, it differed from
many other storms only in its greater
severity and longer duration.
Perhaps the greatest curiosity in the
way OF ice formation ever known was
he loading Of the telegraph wires in
Siberia, n few winters ago. Such an
ce storm occurred there, and the wires
we're all coated. Then a rain followed.
nd long icicles were formed, hanging
rom the wires. Soon the sun came
ut and melted the ice on the top of
he wires So that the ice turned around
he wires, making ,hc icici"s all point
iowards like the teeth Of a comb.
Then the ice again frole TO the wires,
lnt there ii remained Tor several days,
until finally n strong wind shook the
e OF. All these curious forms result
rom different conditions of condensa-
lon.-LaR0y +. GrijIn, IN Chscago
Current.